Speaking or Listening—Either Way, You've Gotta Be There

The eighth annual StormCon conference will take place in Anaheim, CA, August 16–20, 2009. So many things will be happening between now and then that affect the stormwater industry and the regulatory climate—new federal guidelines to be released, a presidential election to be decided, an economy to … well, to do whatever it’s going to do—that this promises to be a gathering you can’t afford to miss.

First, the EPA is scheduled to release its new effluent guidelines for construction sites in December of this year. (The final rule is due one year later.) The EPA was still accepting public comments as late as the last week of September, and no one knows yet exactly what those guidelines will propose—perhaps a numeric turbidity limit for runoff from construction sites—but it’s a sure thing that they will have a big effect on the stormwater industry and on the many municipalities and others covered under NPDES Phase II. There are arguments for and against the numeric limit; those for it say that having a definite limit will provide a clear goal for construction-site operators, manufacturers of BMPs that treat runoff, and the people who regulate and inspect those sites. Those against say that it will be too hard to achieve the limit, or that it’s too costly, too hard to enforce, and too site-dependent for a single numeric limit to apply. Either way, the draft will have been out for several months by the time of the conference, and we expect some interesting discussion and debate.

Another issue is the economy; before the StormCon call for papers deadline—just shortly after this issue hits the mail, in fact—we’ll know which way the election went, and soon after we might even have an idea of the long-term economic forecast. How long will the construction slump continue? How much will be invested in infrastructure improvements? How will falling property tax revenues affect stormwater funding? Again, your peers in Anaheim will have some insights from around the country on all of these issues.

Advertisement

There are six conference tracks for StormCon ’09:

• BMP Case Studies
• Low-Impact Development
• Stormwater Program Management
• Water-Quality Monitoring
• Advanced Research Topics
• Source Control

If you have experience in one or more of these areas—new research to present, case studies on BMP performance to share, innovative ways to detect illicit discharges or communicate with the public or fund your program—consider submitting an abstract. You can see more detail on each track, and more information about the conference, at www.StormCon.com. The deadline for submitting abstracts is Wednesday, December 3.

Author's Bio: Janice Kaspersen is the editor of Stormwater magazine.